Wangan Midnight Maximum Roller
by Writer Nightpen
Summary: Though it says Initial D on the category, this is more of a Wangan Midnight fic. Based on the Wangan Midnight's premise which is highway street-racing... only tonight, Akio and Takumi will race with their most terrifying foe to date: Rin's Road Roller.


I got this idea... a bit random, but hopefully not too dang crappy. To better understand the story, i suggest looking for "Bucchigiri ni Shiteageru" in Youtube. "Initial Rin" also works, but i won't guarantee your sanity if you went on to search "Ultimate Muscle Roller Legend".

Standard disclaimers apply.

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**Wangan Midnight Maximum Roller**

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"Told you we took a wrong turn..."  
"Be quiet. I'm trying to read a map here."  
Two people were arguing in a Subaru Impreza coupe parked on the emergency lane of the New Belt Line. The car's emergency lights were on, though the tires are all in great condition and no smoke were coming from under the hood. The gunmetal gray paint reflected the street lights, while breezy wind blew through the open driver's window.

* * *

**...In a familiar car we WMMT players all know and love...**

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**

"Thanks for picking me up, Akio-kun! I'm so frantic... My GT-R just gave up on me like that..."  
"Ah, it's nothing Reina-san. I just happen to be around that area testing with Kitami-san."

Reina and Akio were chatting inside the Devil Z, sipping canned coffe. Reina's GT-R had unexpectedly broken down halfway into the usual New Belt Line run. Akio, who were testing the Devil Z with Kitami at that time, swooped in to the rescue when the white Nissan came into sight.

"Hey, that looks like a nice car!" Reina piped as they neared the grey Impreza.  
"Sure is... Didn't see many Impreza drivers around Wangan," Akio replied while slowing the car. "Looks like they had an engine problem. Wanna stop and say hi?"  
"Let's!" Reina enthusiastically replied.

Devil Z then pulled over in front of the car made famous by Colin McRae. Reina went straight into admiring the sleek car, while Akio approached the driver's side.

"Yo buddy, need a hand?" Akio hailed the driver as he peered into the car. "Saw your flashing emergency lights from a few hundred meters. Thought it would be sorry for a fine Impreza to broke down in Wangan..."  
"Naah, the car's okay," the older guy sitting on the passenger's seat said. "Just got a little lost trying to find a tuning shop around here..."  
"Understatement of the year," the driver morosely commented.  
"I know some good tuners in this area," Akio said. "Want me to take you on a tour of them? Or you're looking for someone in particular?"  
"Hah! Just our luck," the older guy grunted. Akio sensed a bit of accent on him. "The name's Bunta Fujiwara, and this driver here is my son Taku. We're looking for somebody called Tuner from Hell or somesuch, knew that guy?"  
"Akio Asakura is my name. By Tuner from Hell… you must mean Jun Kitami-san," Akio answered Bunta's question. "Well, you're in luck. Kitami-san's fixing Reina-san's car a few kilometers back, and i'm fetching some parts for him. Just follow us and you'll meet him."  
"Reina... you mean that girl is Reina Akikawa?" Taku said while eyeing his rear-view mirror. Reina is admiring the tail aero parts for the Impreza.  
"The one and only," Akio lightly said.  
"Just our luck indeed..." Bunta commented heartily. "He's a fan of Reina, Asakura-kun."  
"I... can ask her to ride with you," Akio teased.  
"Would be nice," Taku replied succinctly as he eyed the rear-view again. "But my dad here is..."  
"I think I'll ride with him. Not every day we can meet up with classic Japanese power like that Z30," Bunta said while opening the passenger door. "Hey miss, can I borrow your boyfriend for a bit?"  
"He-... he's not my boyfriend!" Reina screeched, covering a light blush creeping onto her face.  
"Just kidding. I'll be riding with Asakura-kun for a bit... I've been fancying a ride in the Z30 for a while. You can ride with my boy here," Bunta said casually. "Oi Taku, ride smoot like always, OK? You're carrying a girl here."  
"Wha- Thank you, sir!" Reina came with a hearty comeback. "Hello there... er..."  
"The name's Takumi Fujiwara... But everyone calls me Taku," Taku said, mightily controlling his inner fanboy as Reina entered the car and shut the passenger door.

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**...a few kilometers into New Belt Line, ahead of them...**

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_"How's your condition sis?"  
"A-ok. Roll-chan is purring eagerly."  
_The vehicle being referred as Roll-chan agreed, by responding eagerly to the helmeted driver's taps on the accelerator pedal._  
"Okay then. Rock-chan and I will try to bait some street racers... just passed a broken-down GT-R, definitely one tuned for racing. This area looks promising."  
"Be careful, brother."  
"Roger that."_

_

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**...back to the Devil Z - Impreza convoy...**

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"... can do a little under 280 kilos per hour usually," Akio explained as he took Bunta further down New Belt Line.  
"That so..." Bunta replied. "That Kitami guy sure did a heck of a job."  
"Yeah. He's one of the best there is," Akio said as he eased on the accelerator for a bit. "Still, Kitami-san rarely does injection cars. He might not do your Impreza, Fujiwara-san."  
"Well, I guess we'll see when we meet the guy," Bunta responded.

Suddenly, a Nissan 350Z wheeled past the Devil Z. It then fell back, trailing behind the Impreza hotly while giving a 'wink' with its header indicating its rider's invitation to battle. Surely enough, Bunta's cell phone ring as if on cue, its back-lighted LCD indicating that the incoming call came from Taku's mobile.

"Hello? Fujiwara-san?" Reina's voice sounded from across the line.  
"Yes Akikawa-san?" Bunta replied. "Did he propose you?"  
"It's not that!" Reina shrieked. "Taku asked if he can race the 350Z..."  
"Go ahead. Just tell him not to fry the engine!" Bunta replied heartily while closing the line. "He could use the flat-terrain experience..."  
"Flat-terrain?" Akio asked the middle-aged man.  
"Yeah. My son and I do touge races once in a while," Bunta explained. "I'd want some work on the acceleration for the Impreza. It might be useful in racing young guns like him."

The Impreza quickly accelerated past the Devil Z, the 350Z tailing hotly. The Devil Z followed the duo at a marginally more sedate pace. Together they sped along the asphalt vein known as the New Belt Line expressway, dodging traffic and swerving around corners in paces that will make an ordinary person puke.

"That 350Z driver is quite skilled," Bunta commented.  
"Yeah... but that car is not performing at its max..." Akio replied. "As if the driver's holding back for something..."

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_"Caught a grey Impreza and a blue vintage here... 700 meters to your position, sis! We're passing through!"  
"Roger! Time to run, Roll-chan..."_

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"We're pulling away!" Reina whooped in joy as she peered back to find the 350Z easing its pursuit by a bit. "You're good, Taku-kun!"  
"The turbo can still be tweaked..." Taku mumbled to himself, trying to contain the inner fanboy and preventing himself to go squee all over the place. Yet, just as Taku sighed in relief, another beastly roar made the presence of another machine known.

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_A machine that was not supposed to run._  
_One that is truly a monster machine in all respects._  
_One that is really out of the world of motorsports._

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"What in the world!" Akio cursed loudly as a yellow monster sped along his side for a split second, the yellow-and-white Nissan hot on the Impreza's wheel giving way to its sister machine.  
"Is that... a _road roller_?" Bunta exclaimed in disbelief. "_**Doing two hundred kilos per hour?**_"  
"It can't be! If it is... it's VERY heavily modified!" Akio shot back, trying to up his own pace to match the road roller. "Frame lightening, at the very least! There's no way it's made of iron!"

True enough, it was a road roller... although to be precise, it's a very swift machine which looked much like a road roller. Its size is about one to two feet taller of a HiAce van but a good two feet wider, and its humongous front roller about two-third that height. Its back tires are equally large, standing just shy of half the monster's height. The open cockpit can be seen perching precariously high on the midsection of the monster machine, where a smallish driver could be seen sitting comfortably clad in white racing suit and a matching crash helmet.

"This is all so surreal..." Bunta muttered, chuckling as he lights a cigarette. The Devil Z still keeps up the chase, although the 350Z is now taking it upon itself to block Devil Z off.  
"You can say that again, Fujiwara-san..." the Devil Z owner replied.

* * *

_The Devil Z suddenly vibrated gently in the midst of its normal working noise._  
_Whining like a small child, it pleads the master to let it beat its grotesque foe._  
_"You wanted to race it... Devil...?" Akio whispered. "Very well... Let's go!"_

* * *

Bunta wisely put on his seatbelt. Akio had his safety belt on before he floored the gas pedal, mainly out of experience from his past crashes. The Devil Z roared in response, bellowing her own challenge to the yellow monster. The three-way battle has started, between the Impreza, the Devil Z, and the Rock and Roll duet.

"You looked... pale, Akikawa-san," Taku said lightly, negotiating a sharp hairpin with the practiced finesse of a touge veteran.  
"Th-there's..." Reina mumbled, clutching her safety belt for her dear life, "A road roller hot on our tail..."  
"I know..." Taku responded as he floored the gas pedal at the exit of the corner, all while eyeballing his rear-view mirror.  
"I'm scared..." Reina whispered, barely holding back her tears. "This is a nightmare..."  
"A nightmare who seeks to be slain," Taku said, a renewed fire burning in his eyes. He will conquer the beast which made Reina cry.

After a few sharp turns, Akio and The Devil saw an opening to displace the 350Z from its third position. It took the inside of a corner bravely, nudging the 350Z ever so slightly. The newer Nissan had no choice than to yield its position for fear of being slammed sideways to the road divider, and gave Akio a wide berth as it exited the corner. Akio then flicked its headlights once, issuing a challenge for the road roller while Bunta dialed Taku's number. The 350Z slowed some more, before choosing an exit to go out of the expressway.

* * *

_"The vintage's pretty good, sis! I'll be waiting at the usual place!"  
"Okay brother! Roll-chan... let's do this!"_

_

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_

"H-hello?" a groggy Reina answered the call on Taku's cell phone.  
"Tell Taku to pull over, Akikawa-san," Bunta said matter-of-factly. "The engine could be heating dangerously now. It's my car and i don't want him to wreck it."  
"T-Taku... your father told you to stop..." Reina said. "The engine might not make it..."  
"He's right... damn heat's been building up," Taku grunted, before yelling to the cell. "Take him good, Asakura-san!"  
"Okay, you heard him Asakura-kun," Bunta concluded as he terminated the call. Up front, the grey Impreza can be seen yielding to the road roller and slowing, picking an exit to ditch the expressway.  
"Nobody would even believe i'd raced a steamroller in New Belt Line at midnight," Akio chuckled.  
"Well, that's what phone cameras are for..." Bunta said coolly as he started recording.

The battle was intense. The road roller's size made overtaking in narrow strips of New Belt Line outright murderous, although its agility is only about as good as a HiAce. Finding a long straight after a few sharp turns prior to the Wangan join, Akio engaged his turbo to squeeze out a few drop more of power from the engine to make the cut. They raced side-by-side, neither gaining nor losing ground in the loop that lasts forever...

* * *

_That night, the Third Wangan Legend, Yellow Roller, was born._

* * *

"You really took your sweet time, eh?" Kitami grumbled in dismay as Akio brought his toolbox and parts he requested. The time was nearing sunrise, and Kitami had been dozing off on the passenger's seat. "You two pulled over at a Love Hotel or something?"  
"Geez, Kitami-san!" Reina pouted. "Is my GT-R okay?"  
"Well, she only lost plugs and a few other things, won't be necessary to get this towed. My rigging will at least get her to my shop where we can properly repair her," Kitami replied flatly. "More importantly, where the hell have you people gone? I thought my shop is only half an hour's drive away!"  
"You won't believe who we raced, Kitami-san!" Akio enthusiastically said while lifting the bonnet up. "There's this crazy-ass steamroller..."  
"Oh, how the mighty Devil Z has fell from its grace, forced to race a steamroller like that," Kitami sarcastically said as he opened the passenger's side door and stepped out of the car.  
"We have video proof!" Reina chirped happily, showing her cellphone. "Do you want to watch?"  
"Oh no, i'm not falling for that Muscle Roller trick again," Kitami snorted.  
"We'll vouch for them," Bunta coolly said as he emerged from the Impreza pulling over in front of the GT-R. "We did race a steamroller."  
"Reina Reina, doing 2p like that. You've been really naughty, eh?" Kitami further teased as he pulled a new spark plug out of the box.  
"Geez, Kitami-san! Now I'm mad!" Reina screeched, before entering her own car and slamming the door after her.  
"We're actually here for your tuning service, Kitami-san," Bunta said as he bent over to see the plug being fitted.  
"Let's talk about it later, when we get to the shop," Kitami dismissed the other middle-aged man. "Besides, I want to hear the tales of this Wangan Steamroller you raced."

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Well, there you go. I corrected the thing about C1 and New Belt Line there… turns out they both link to the Wangan, but the C1 links to Wangan through part of the New Belt Line.


End file.
